Equatorial Guinea rises to 98 deaths in the explosion of a military arsenal

The Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, assured this Monday afternoon through public television TVGE that the explosion of an arsenal inside a military barracks in the city of Bata last Sunday caused the death of 98 people and left 615 wounded, of which 316 have already been discharged and 299 remain admitted to three hospitals.

Many of the deceased recorded this Monday are corpses that appeared under the rubble of the buildings collapsed by the detonations.

The country's president, Teodoro Obiang, attributed the events to an uncontrolled burning near the barracks and to the "negligent handling of dynamite" by the military themselves, he commented in a statement read on public television on Sunday.

His son and vice president on Monday asked the population not to heed rumors of attacks and hostile acts that had been spreading since the events took place, reaffirming the version given the day before by his father and president.

The four main detonations, which were followed by small explosions, occurred at 1:30 p.m. (local time) on Sunday at the Nkuantoma barracks in Bata, the most populous city in the country with some 300,000 inhabitants and the economic capital of Equatorial Guinea.

Many buildings were damaged and all those near the barracks, especially the homes of the military and special forces, collapsed with "many missing under the rubble," according to the Ministry of Health, which declared a health emergency and asked citizens that they came to donate blood to the various hospitals in the city.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Equatorial Guinea requested emergency humanitarian assistance from the United Nations to provide first aid to the wounded.

Specifically, it claimed medical material such as syringes, probes, catheters, bandages and oxygen tubes, hospital material such as beds, sheets or oxygenation masks, surgical elements, prefabricated outpatient hospitals, food, first aid material and emergency health personnel.

The Civil Protection service, with the support of the private company Martínez Hermanos, religious orders present in the country and organizations such as Aldeas Infantiles, has been providing assistance to hundreds of people who have lost their homes since Monday.

“It was brutal, nobody was prepared for something like that.

We have seen the chaos, policemen crying out of despair, "says a resident on WhatsApp who asked not to be identified.

Another neighbor explains that "the images that come from the hospitals are tremendous."

Hundreds of people who have been left homeless spent Monday on the promenade under some tents set up to serve the population.

Many citizens have started to leave Bata for the inland towns for fear of further explosions.

Telephone communications and internet service were severely disrupted on Sunday and the military took to the streets to control civilians' access to the area.

The firefighters carried out this Monday the removal of rubble and the search for the missing.

According to state television, three children were found alive among the remains of their homes and taken to the Bata general hospital.

Small explosions were heard throughout the night around the disaster area.

For her part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Spanish Cooperation, Arancha González Laya, announced this Monday the shipment of a shipment of humanitarian aid to Equatorial Guinea in response to the situation created by the explosions by means of a plane that is scheduled to arrive. this Tuesday.

The Foreign Minister expressed to her Equatorial Guinean counterpart, Simeón Oyono Esono, the "regret" of the Spanish Government for the victims caused by "the devastating explosions" registered in Bata.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang and Prime Minister Francisco Pascual Obama traveled to the Nkuantoma neighborhood on Sunday to closely monitor the debris removal work and check the scale of the damage.

The main opposition party, Convergence for Social Democracy of Equatorial Guinea (CPDS) has denounced through a statement the "absence" of the Government in the management of this crisis, which it described as "the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the history of the country."

According to this party, “the fact that family members are the ones who take in their loved ones who have lost their homes or have been evacuated for fear of new explosions;

Seeing the injured go to the hospital on their own feet, and others arriving in taxis and vans, without ambulances or stretchers, with injured and healthy people mixed with the scarce medical personnel without any equipment, is already a sufficient indicator that Equatorial Guinea is in very bad hands.

There is no government ”.